This short report explains the problem of intolerant equality laws and provides many examples of court cases. In addition it presents the 150 most striking incidents of intolerance against Christians in Europe in 2014.

This short guide seeks to answer three questions: What are the international and regional human rights institutions that exist around the world, why do they matter and how can individuals and organizations get involved?

Quotations

“To say to someone that Jesus is the only God is not a matter of truth. To the extent that they are saying that the only way to God is through Jesus, that cannot be a truth.” UK Prosecutor Ian Jackson at trial against street preachers.

– , February 2017

“Forcing someone to promote a view that they fundamentally disagree with is the antithesis of a free and fair society.” Peter Lynas of the Evangelical Alliance on the Ashers Baking lost appeal.

– , October 2016

“it is an infringement of freedom to require businesses to aid the promotion of ideas to which they conscientiously object. Discrimination against people should be unlawful, but not against ideas”.

– From a letter threatening arson against Catholic blogger., November 2015

"The only religion the West permits criticism of is Christianity."

– Dennis Prager, July 2007

"I imagine many Christians today feel under threat... We don’t have to agree with them, but we must recognise their right to disagree with us."

– Roger Helmer, September 2010

"Christians [in the UK] continue to voice concern about the ability to express their faith in the workplace."

– Report on International Religious Freedom of US state department, Nov. 2010

"You stand a better chance of earnest representation if you are a hedgehog [than a Christian in the UK] – and I speak as a patron of the Hedgehog Protection Society."

– Miss Widdecombe, October 2011

"Does fairness and equality only apply to people who are non-Christians in this country?"

– UK House of Commons, M. Jackson, Feb. 2009

"Excluding signs of Christian civilization from Europe does not make it a place friendlier to non-Christians."

– Russian-Orthodox Metropolitan Hilarion, September 2011

“This verdict is a defeat for freedom of expression. As well as meaning that Ashers can be legally forced to aid the promotion of same-sex marriage, it also implies that gay bakers could be forced by law to decorate cakes with homophobic slogans.” Homosexual rights activist Peter Tatchell

– , October 2016

"I can not help wondering about the moral responsibility of certain media who nurture in French society a particularly unhealthy climate of anti-Catholicism."

– Mgr Marc Aillet, October 2010

"If the Catholic Church cannot distribute a booklet on Catholic teaching to Catholics, who can it distribute them to?"

In many jurisdictions in Europe and North America, religious freedom can all too easily be 'trumped' by other rights.

– Roger Trigg, February 2012

“Societies in which freedom of religion and speech flourish are more resilient, more stable, more peaceful, and more productive.”

– Hilary Clinton, Nov. 2010

“Will the right to criticise and caricature a religion become more important in this country than the right to express one's religious experiences?”

– Council of Evangelicals in France, responding to verdict against two men for distributing leaflet., November 2015

“The intention was clearly to violently attack this Christian place of worship. And two months after the assassination of Father Hamel, emotion remains strong in the Catholic community. To attack a church is to attack every Christian."

– Fr Nicholas Maine, on the desecration of Church Saint-Henri, September 2016

"Christianity isn’t being violently rejected from the public sphere, but quietly banned from all areas of the collective memory."

– Jean-Pierre Denis, June 2011

“They shout Quranic verses. These are words that IS shouts before they cut off people’s heads. I cannot stay here. I am a Christian.”

– A young Syrian refugee in Germany , September 2015

“Protection is one of the key elements surrounding any debate on religious freedom as a fundamental human right because it is intrinsic to the human person.” Archbishop Jurkovi?, Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the UN

– , March 2017

“I am not Catholic, but I think there is prejudice and especially major anti-clericalism that is taking on enormous proportions in Europe.”

– Bernard-Henri Lévy, September 2010

"Hate incidents and hate crimes directed against Christians strike at the core values of the OSCE community."

– Lamberto Zannier, September 2011

"My beliefs about marriage and sexual ethics reflect mainstream, biblical understanding, shared by millions around the world. Simply expressing that understanding, in a personal capacity, on my Facebook page, cannot be allowed to become a bar to serving and helping others in a professional capacity as a social worker."

"We need to create a country in which people can be unashamedly proud of their faith – where they don’t feel that they have to leave religion at the door."

– Baroness Warsi, November 2011

"These are worrying signs of a failure to appreciate not only the rights of believers to freedom of conscience and freedom of religion, but also the legitimate role of religion in the public square."

– Pope Benedict XVI, September 2010

“7 out of 10 Anglican clergy experienced some kind of violence from 1999 to 2001.”

– Independent Academic Research study, September 2001

“Recent attacks on Christian communities have highlighted the necessity to address the problem of intolerance against Christians with a specific focus on hate crimes."

– OSCE Report, September 2011

“I am gay and I am atheist but... it seems to me that what we are doing is producing a tyrannous new morality that is every bit as oppressive as the old.”

– David Starkey, March 2011

It is “the task of every civil society to support religion, which allows a light to shine through, indispensable for living.”

– Pope Francis in Azerbaijan, October 2016

"The influence of a certain anti-Christian attitude is being spread through the media, in textbooks or in public opinion."

– Cardinal Peter Erdö, September 2011

Christians are dying because of their beliefs, because they are defenseless and because the world is indifferent to their suffering. Good people must join together and stop this revolting wave of violence.

– Ronald S. Lauder is the president of the World Jewish Congress, August 2014

"One can only regret the silence of the media and the institutions when it comes to the very numerous desecration of Christian sites."

– Louis Guédon, French member of parliament, September 2012

"[There is a] crisis of religious freedom by the development of an aggressive form of secularism which seeks to condemn Christians to a marginalization in public life."

– Jaime Urcelay, May 2011

485 cemeteries or places of worship were damaged between January 1st and September 30th, 2010. 410 were Christian sites, 40 Muslim sites and 35 Jewish sites.

– Former Minister M. Hortefeux, November 2010

“Christianity is under pressure from a form of secularism, particularly in Europe... It seems that there is a fear of allowing religion to play a role in public life.”

– UN Economic and Social Council, December 2004

"We often hear about Anti-Semitism and Islamophobia, and very little is said about Christianophobia, which is gaining strength in many European countries."

– Russian-Orthodox Metropolit Hilarion, January 2008

"Christianity will become a faith that can speak in the public square less and less freely."

– Archbishop Charles Chaput, August 2010

“…the idea that Christian traditionalism menaces and encircles secular minorities is preposterous—as antiquated as decrying fluoride in the water supply, or motorized travel."

Recent cases

A hand-carved figure of Jesus Christ on a cross was placed at 789 meters on the north side of the Traunstein mountain in Gmunden, Austria by members of the alpine club as a gift to a member. They discovered the statue had been decapitated with a saw when they arrived to present the gift on August 7, 2017. Police are investigating. Read more ...

A Christian prison worker has lost his latest appeal in the courts over his discipline by HMP Littlehey. Rev Barry Trayorn who worked as a gardener, but volunteered in the chapel, fell into trouble after delivering a talk to prisoners about homosexuality and sin. Following a complaint, he was disciplined then later resigned. In 2016, an employment tribunal ruled that his employers acted within the law. A judge confirmed in August 2017 that ruling was fair, claiming his words could "legitimise mistreatment of homosexual prisoners." Trayhorn will take his case to the Court of Appeal. Read more ...

Unknown perpetrators broke off and stole the head from a 300-year-old statue of Saint Rosalia in the middle of the main square of the town in Burgenland. Police initiated an investigation after local residents discovered the vandalism on July 27, 2017. Read more ...

In the early morning hours of July 27, 2017, unidentified individuals threw two Molotov cocktails at the evangelical Martin-Luther-Kirche in Dresden resulting in at least 1,000 euros in damage. Police are investigating.
Read more ...

Sweden has rejected the asylum claim of Iranian Christian actress Aideen Strandsson and will deport her back to Iran, where she likely faces time in an Iranian prison -- or worse. In Iran, where it can be deadly to convert to Christianity, Strandsson kept her conversion largely a secret. But when she came to Sweden, she requested a public baptism. Iranian intelligence most likely is aware of her conversion and she has received threats on social media. Strandsson has said "I don't know what will happen to me, I know the punishment for me in Iran is death," she said. But "I have hope in Jesus, it's just the last hope I have in my life." Read more ...